2 Ti 2° ‘having been taken captive by him unto his will’ (Am. RV); ‘having been taken captive by the Lord’s servant unto the will of God’ (RV). In aiming at perspicuity the RV has given a com- ment rather than a translation. The Am. RV leaves an ambiguity in the pronouns ‘him’ and ‘his.’ A point would be gained if ‘Hig’ were written with a capital letter.
He 11° ‘for he hath had witness borne to him that before his translation he had been well-
* For this and one or two other examples the writer is in-
debted to an appreciative article by Professor H. M. Whitney, in the April number of the Bibliotheca Sacra (Ohio), 1902.
Carne a a eae re
VERSIONS (ENGLISH)
leasing unto God’ (Am. RV); ‘before his trans- lation he hath had witness borne to him that he had been well-pleasing unto God’ (RV). The tenses speak for themselves.
He 11' ‘now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen’ (Am. RV); ‘now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proving of things not seen’ (RV). The former of these renderings has been praised as much the better of the two. But, as Westcott points out, ‘it is difficult to suppose that @\eyyos can express a state’; and he himself gives ‘substance’ and ‘test’ for brécracis and é\eyxos.
If, in the above examples, the advantage may be claimed for the American RV, the same can hardly be said in the case of those which follow :—
Ex 20" ‘thou shalt not kill’ (Am. RV); ‘thou shalt do no murder’ (Prayer-Book Version and RV). It is interesting to observe that each of these newest renderings has gone back to an earlier pattern,—the RV to that in the Prayer- Book, and the Am. RV to that of 1611. There is this merit in the last, that it harmonizes with the word used in our Lord’s summary of the Com- mandments (Mt 19%). But the word ‘kill’ does not necessarily imply a criminal act, and in so far the rendering of the Am. RV is inade-
uate.
Ps 246 «This is the generation of them that seek after him, that seek thy face, even Jacob’ (Am. RV); ‘. .. that seek thy face, O God of Jacob’ (RV). The difficulty lies in supplying the ellipse ‘O God of.’ It is admitted that, if the Massoretic text be followed, the first of these renderings is the right one; but in that case, as Kirkpatrick points out, ‘the construction is harsh ; a vocative is needed after thy face; and Jacob does not by itself convey this sense.’ His conclusion is that ‘the AVm and RV rightly follow the LXX, Vulg., and Syr. in reading ‘*O God of Jacob.”’
Ps 148% ‘young men and virgins’ (Am. RV); ‘young men and maidens’ (RV). What is gained by the change?
Lk 24°° «Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory ?? (Am. RV). Except in the spelling of the first word this rendering repeats that of the RV, and is therefore open to the same objection. By retaining the co- ordinate construction with ‘and’ instead of the subordinate, the sense is missed. It should have been ‘by suffering these things to enter into his glory,’ or ‘to suffer these things and so enter,’ ete, This will be seen more clearly by comparing such’ a sentence as Mt 23% “these things ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone’ g which would appear to charge the Pharisees with neglecting the ceremonial observances of the law. The sense requires : ‘without therefore leaving the others undone.’
Ac 8” «The passage of Scripture’ (Am. RV); ‘The place of the Scripture’ (RV). The change of ‘place’ to ‘passage’ has not been made by the Am. RV in Lk 4%,
Gal 1° ‘am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God?’ (Am. RV); ‘am I now persuading men, or God?’ (RV). While it is admitted that a verb of kindred meaning with ze/@w should be supplied by zeugma to govern 6edv, it does not seem necessary that the meaning of ze(@w with avOpdérovs should also be thus modified.
Tit 18 * given to hospitality’ (Am. RV and RY) for the simple ‘ hospitable ’ (guddEevor).
He 96-17 In this passage dadsxy is rendered ‘testament,’ not ‘covenant,’ both by the Am. RV and the RV. But, as Westcott has shown, ‘there is not the least trace of the meaning “ testament ” in the Greek Old Scriptures, and the idea of a
VERSIONS (ENGLISH)
271
‘testament ” was indeed foreign to the Jews till the time of the Herods.’
Ja 1” ‘every good gift and every perfect gift’ (Am. RV, in this agreeing with the AV); ‘every good gift and every perfect boon’ (RV). This latter rendering fails because ‘boon’ is not a cognate word to ‘ gift,’ as dwpnua in the original is to dcx. The American Revisers, in making ‘gift’ serve for both these terms, confess them- selves unable to surmount the difficulty.
Rev 2*4 ‘as they are wont to say’ (Am. RV); ‘as they say’ (RV). The latter is preferable, the Greek being simply os Néyoucw.
The inference to be drawn from this brief com- parison of renderings, as well as from a more general survey of the work, is that it is prema- ture as yet to call it, as is done on the title-page, a ‘standard’ edition. It seems evident that, even if the principles of the latest Revisers be admitted, a considerable time must elapse before they can be thoroughly carried out in practice. An illustration taken from one single department of the subject will suttice. In the case of archaic or obsolete words much progress has been made. Many a ‘howbeit’ has given place to ‘yet’; ‘or ever’ to ‘before’; ‘ evil entreated ’ to ‘ill-treated’ ; ‘meat’ to ‘food’; and the like. But how many still re- main! ‘Gendereth’ is altered to ‘ bringeth forth’ in Gal 4%4, but left unaltered in Job 38%. ‘ High- minded,’ which is now an epithet of praise, is left in 1 Ti 6" in the sense which it bore in the days of the Gunpowder Plot. ‘Took knowledge of’ for ‘recognized’ still remains in Ac 4%. ‘ Nephews’ is rightly changed to ‘grandchildren’ in 1 Ti 5‘; but ‘piety,’ in the Latin sense of the word, still remains in the same passage.